Online retail giant to spend $150 million opening facility with up to 1,000 jobs

It will lease built-to-suit fulfillment center near Grand Rapids

Over year and a half, Amazon announces $420 million in Michigan investment, 4,925 jobs

This rendering was submitted in March as part of Amazon's "Project Rapids" plan in Gaines Township.

Amazon.com Inc. plans to spend $150 million opening another fulfillment center in Michigan with up to 1,000 jobs — this time near Grand Rapids.

The online retail giant's Livonia center, its first in the state, opened in the fall.

The Michigan Strategic Fund on Tuesday approved a $4 million performance-based grant to help Amazon open another in Gaines Township in Kent County.

The company will lease a newly constructed facility, according to an MSF memo. It will be built to suit on a 100-acre site owned by Grand Rapids-based furniture company Steelcase Inc. A third-party developer will build the facility, according to the memo. It will be a two-story building with more than 1 million square feet of floor space, according to documents filed with the township.

The township will also provide a 50 percent property tax abatement, according to the release. The facility will have "state-of-the-art robotics and logistics equipment," the memo said.

"Amazon's ongoing investment in Michigan reflects the state's prime supply chain assets, and as a Midwest distribution center for internet-based businesses," Jeff Mason, CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corp., which administers development programs on behalf of the fund, said in a release.

"A project of this size will likely attract more growth and capital, and consequently, there will be a range of business investment."

The state awarded the Livonia center a $7.5 million grant. Amazon has also received state grants for fulfillment centers planned in Romulus ($5 million) and Shelby Township ($4.5 million). It also operates a Brownstown Township sorting center.

The new Romulus order fulfillment center is “in the final stages of construction and will come online” this summer, Amazon spokeswoman Shevaun Brown said Tuesday.

Over the past year and a half, the company has announced a total of $420 million in investment in Michigan and planned or created nearly 5,000 jobs.